Steam can, and will be replaced. Kiaran Ritchie is a silly boy.
We’ve tried nothing and we’re out of ideas.
What do you mean? They tried the most capitalist of solutions, buying themselves into the space free games and exclusivity! It’s a shame it takes a bit more than just being able to click “play” (and not even that in Linux) to have a shop front people want to use.
On the one hand, they’re not really competing on features right now.
On the other hand, I have heard (more times than I can count or remember), that Steam users will never use another launcher for any reason ever.
So they kind of have a point. If they invest hundreds of millions or billions into features, would Steam users really use the Epic launcher? I don’t think so.
I mean, Steam isn’t even my preferred storefront, despite being where I buy most of my games. I actually prefer GoG when it’s an option.
they released a new video codec for steamlink vr streaming not too long ago, and are adding achievement categories
He is saying Epic isn’t releasing new features right now (because it doesnt help against steam)
Epic announced that fartknife was coming to Linux less than a month ago
Steam has problems, Epic games could fix that. They choose to whine about it on social media instead.
When Gabe passes one day and the next owner is some business dimwit and makes steam really win capitalism, pretty sure we’ll jump to GoG. That’s my headcanon at least. Because that’s what always happens to private companies when the person who cares about the thing no longer leads the company.
Gabe doesn’t even work at valve anymore. He passed the torch long ago. Please don’t keep repeating this.
Is GoG immune?
For a while, maybe? It’s very tempting to sell out, and most people succumb.
Not entirely, but they’re focused on delivering DRM free copies for your purchases. So if they were to pivot and revoke your library, that part is impossible if you’ve downloaded your DRM free installation files.
Do you keep an up to date copy of all your games installers?
I have some games on GoG. But when I wanted to install games, I got their launcher installer. You need to go through some dark path to find the true installer. At least it was the case a couple years back.
Also a few month ago they putted an announce to hire someone to lead the Galaxy launcher. They explicitly asked for someone that would push the use of AI in their team.
I fear the moment they gain enough traction, the game won’t be as easy to install DRM free. Their launcher will be the DRM, just like steam.
So yeah, they provide an escape hatch for now, but sadly other than that it looks to me they are more like Epic than Valve. I have not much trust for them.
(Maybe Humble Bundle stopping to provide DRM free download of the game + the steam key eaeliy on made me very skeptical of this?)
No I don’t want to lose my library 😭
Steam still have a lot of issues, so there’s some opportunities still. If Epic truly managed to provide what Steam does while taking less from the devs, I would guarantee you that more people would go to the EGS, and even make memes about EGS taking less from devs. But with nonexistent social features and AI slop unlabeled, people will not want to touch it with a ten foot pole.
Hell, even if they just let people avoid AI slop easier than on Steam would at least win over a few people. But from what Epic is doing with its other tools, it seems like they’re trying to force as many devs to be “AI first” as possible.
As a dev, I wouldn’t lie that Epic taking lower cuts sounds nice. But if it comes with the costs of their game launcher coming with Chinese spyware and being horribly vibe-coded, a chronic inability to dodge AI slop, then I don’t even want to touch it with a 10 foot pole. Maybe I won’t even release my games there.
Yeah, and their unknowable secret sauce to win capitalism was to not overdo it and enshittify. Wild stuff. Who could tell that keeping your userbase happy is more productive in the long term than chasing “growth” at every turn?
Give it a generation or three, but yes.
Companies that “haven’t gone evil” yet are like dynasties that aren’t ruled by a mad king, yet.
It usually comes after the original founder leaves or dies.
Fixable? Whats broken?
Why do people even give clicks to this bullshit.
People were saying the same thing about Netflix, then netflix went to shit and look at that alternatives popped up.
And don’t forget Microsoft was the goliath that steam managed to take on.
Something feels different about that – i guess EA is big enough they could theoretically stop selling on the steam store. But idk other companies are big enough to make competing platforms the way all the Hollywood media giants did
What would happen is if steam started to piss people off. Netflix did, and this is what happened.
I think we have different opinions about what happened. The main problem with Netflix is all the rights holders pulled their content off of Netflix leaving it with mostly junk
They raised their rates and split dvd and streaming first. That was the opportunity that gave (Stars first I think?) a chance to split off, and then more followed.
And then netflix keeps raising rates, blocking family sharing AND not having much to watch.
Edit: and I just looked it up, they had already raised prices, but this one was about 60%.
The LA Times lead line captures what I am saying: “Netflix Inc., America’s largest video subscription service, is hiking prices as much as 60% in a move that has sparked outrage among its customers but brought smiles to Hollywood studio executives.”
Maybe I have it backwards ,-- thanks for sharing!
Valve didn’t “played capitalism”, capitalism played itself
Jesus Christ I’ve seen so many posts about epic or it’s out of touch CEO fucking straight up whining about Valves success. How about using the powers of publicly held capitalism and making a product that’s worthwhile? You can’t. Take your loss and shut the fuck up already. Yes I fully realize I’m not talking to them. Just needed to vent because this shit that passes for news these days is just fucking garbage.
He’s just a guy looking for free marketing. Just ignore them, CEOs have a shorter attention span than a toddler.
Just wanna comment that the use of play in his language is telling; really drives home the fact it’s all just a game to them and we’re just pawns or mobs to exploit
Anticompete laws are a thing, but I don’t know if they’re applicable at this point to anything valve does.
Epic could also just try to not be utterly shite. I personally won’t touch it as long as sweeny is involved and they are deep-throating AI.
Like I enjoy a lot of what Valve does but people who simp to the extreme levels we see on Lemmy are honestly wild to me.
Two points to be contended with:
- Valve are getting 20-30% of every sale. Other marketplaces - notably Google and Apple - are rightfully despised for this level of rent seeking
- Valve popularized the concept of the loot box in Western games, making money off of children gambling
I think there’s something to be said between mobile app stores and what Valve offers through Steam though.
There’s an argument to be made that yes, developers are functionally giving up an entry fee to Steam’s userbase, but Steam also does run a very compelling platform. If it was just a storefront, I’d agree about rent seeking. But you get a pretty elaborate set of features that are legitimately what sets Steam apart from other stores:
- Steam community forums
- News feeds to make publishing patch notes easier
- Steam workshop for easy integration of community content
- A robust social network, with integration into the game for an easy means of inviting, hosting and joining games to meet parity with Consoles
- Steam’s whole CDN/versioning depot
- a swath of marketing tools, Proton for multi-platform compatibility, etc.
For both its users and the sellers, Steam is a consistently improving platform. I think they’ve made some less great decisions over the years, or fail to enforce their own guidelines, but largely they continue to innovate and make it clear there’s an interest in making it as complete and accessible am experience as possible.
To your second point, agreed. I despise the loot boxes and I think Valve is pulling some horseshit there. There’s also no forgetting they had virtually no customer support for longer than they’ve had it. Refunds weren’t even an option until 2015, and only came about as the result of multiple consumer rights suits. To their credit, they’ve made a point of doing that as well as they can too, but I still think there’s room for improvement.
Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Google and Apple all take 30% to the point that it is accepted as the standard market rate. Epic points at Valve following the same standard and says they are greedy and now everyone parrots the Valve is bad claim. I’m sorry but I never bought this argument Maybe we should claim it’s a problem with the industry as a whole instead of pointing to just one company following what others have been charging.
It’s an equally large problem on each platform, yet for some reason Valve gets vigorously defended any time they receive criticism.
Google and Apple both take 30% on everything, but that recently changed it to 15% for a developer’s first 1million dollars, and for subscriptions.
Steam… “broke” capitalism?
I think they mean “won.”
STFU EPIC
To be fair, talking about Steam makes EPIC just as relevant as any person talking about Steam… which is considerably more relevant than EPIC by itself.
